Litter Maintenance Question

[susan denning]

I noticed now that my two cats are indoors, and especially now that they are on Royal Canin SO, their litterboxes are getting quite gross.

My first question - They are peeing quite a bit (In 24 hours, I have enough wet litter to fill an small trash bag about 1/3 to 1/2 of the way full). Is that normal, or should I be concerned?

My second question - I use ARM and Hammer unscented litter and two large boxes, and am finding that I've have to scrape cement like stuff out of corners of the boxes (instead of clumps). I'm thinking I should be able to get it to where I can just scoop out clumps. Besides scooping twice a day (which I am doing) and washing the boxes once a week (can do), do you have other suggestions for me?

 

[Ceracera]

One of my kittens likes to pee at the edge of the box too. I have two litter boxes- one rectangular and one oval, and she does it in both. Though the pee doesnt stick that much to the sides in the oval box. Ive also found that if i made the litter deeper, it would form better clumps.

And i agree with royal canin stinking. The breeder used to feed them royal canin and... the stench they produced was enough to knock out a skunk, maybe even a whole family of skunks. After i switched their food, their poops got smaller too, but it took almost a month for me to see the change.

They pee a lot too, but they're kittens. And they pee and poop about half the number of times they used to a month ago.

 

[Willowy]

SO foods prevent urinary problems, in part, by making the cats drink more. So, yeah, they are going to pee a lot :/. Keeping the litter deeper than 3 inches helps the pee not reach the bottom, but when they pee against the sides it's kind of unavoidable. What kind of scoop do you have? A nice sturdy metal scoop is a good investment, much easier to scrape the clumps off the side with that.

 

[basscat]

What is it with "healthy" foods that do that?
If I feed Mazuri, the outcome will melt glass.
If I feed raw chicken, basically no smell.

 

[DreamerRose]

I use Fresh Step litter, which has Febreeze in it. There is absolutely no odor, and I scoop twice a week. One litter box is in the kitchen, so I would know. I also have three boxes for two cats. You need one box more than you have cats.

 

[susan denning]

Thanks all for you replies. I cleaned their litter boxes today and made the new litter deeper than normal, so will see how that goes.

 

[catlitterguru]

More pee indicates they are more hydrated. That is great, since cats usually don't drink enough (and therefor male cats are more prone to urinary tract issue). Unless the increased pee is coupled with other unusual behavior (e.g: vomiting, diarrhea, etc), it is not a bad problem (other than you need to but more litter...).

If the hard clumps bothers you, experiment with other brands. That being said, from cleaning point of view, cement-like clumps are easier to clean than crumbly clumps.

If you are trying to prevent the need to scrape, deeper litter level should help. Also try the Arm & Hammer Slide. They are not advertised as unscented, but I don't smell anything when I pour it or after it the litter is spent (I don't like scented litter either). While they don't exactly all slide right out like a non-stick pan, I barely had to nudge the clumps to get it out. In comparison to the Arm and Hammer Clump & Seal, the Slide sticks to the pan noticeably less.

 

[Ardina]

I briefly tried SmartCat litter, and the nice thing is that it doesn't form hard clumps. Instead, the clumps feel like rubber balls that you can either peel off easily or that just fall off with a little tap, so no scraping required. Unfortunately, my cats strongly preferred the clay litter, and the tracking of SmartCat was horrendous. Plus it's expensive. So I switched back to Dr. Elsey's. But if you have side pee-ers, this might work for you.